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Is the Hospital violating my Rights? 

mika
mika
Posts: 1


Posted On: 6/5/2014
mika
mika
Posts: 1
I recently traveled overseas and had walked bare feet while I was away.

I did not notice anything sticking into my foot but once I returned to Canada a few weeks later I felt some pain in my foot bottom.

There was also a black dot in this region. I went to the walk in doctor who diagnosed me with :plantar's wart" although I did not agree.

So I decided to let this naturally heal as he instructed me that this may go away on its own. It did not. Three weeks later I went to the emergency hospital because the pain in my foot bottom was so bad and I noticed the black dot hot become larger and now there were two.

I was seen by the emerge doc who took x-ray and ultrasound and diagnosed me with having a foreign body inside my foot so small that I required surgical removal.

He advised me that someone would contact me with an appointment over the next few days.

Nobody phoned.

I waited one week then I started making some calls to the hospital where nobody was able to help me.

One person actually hung the phone up on me when I told her that this was unacceptable that I was being redirected so much.

I got redirected to come back to the emerg. Almost two weeks later I was phoned by one department who finally received my referral.

The booked for me to come in the following day so I had to cancel another specialist appointment I had that day. When I was seen by the doctor the next day he told me that he was unable to help me as this was not his specialty.

He commented "I deal with bones and skin....I do not remove anything from foot...You need to go back to emerg and find the doctor...it is not my job to do do anything because I don't know why you even cam through the emerge when this could have been handled at your fam doc."

He slammed the charts down on the counter and told me it was not his job to locate the referring doctor in the hospital and refused to provide some sort of directions despite me pleading for help because I had been experiencing so much pain.

I felts o embarrassed as he shut me off in front other patients and staff. I then began to cry and made my way to the PAO to make a compliant who actually listened and indicated they would get back to me the next day as there were a number of issues.

I have been so emotionally upset about the situation and so not want others to have this experience. I also think the system handled this very careless and the staff were extremely rude. The fact put my life on HOLD to attend this appointment and then to be mistreated is also sad.

I tried phoning a number of lawyer for legal advice but have gotten nowhere. Most of them do not take on these cases and one told me that I had no case because things like this do happen. I need some help as I know this is unacceptable and there has to be something done!

Mika
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Moderator
Moderator
Moderator
Posts: 4063


Posted On: 6/10/2014
Moderator
Moderator
Moderator
Posts: 4063
Hello Mika,

Thank you for sharing your situation with us. We are sorry that you have had to experience this. We can appreciate that this would be very concerning and frustrating.

You can find some detailed information in our Settlement.Org What are my rights as a patient? article.

Here is an excerpt,

Your Rights

In general, as a patient, you have a right to:

-Receive safe and proper care.
-Give or refuse consent for any procedure, and for any reason.
-Have a medical professional clearly explain health problems and treatments to you.
-Participate in health care decisions.
-Ask questions and express concerns.
-Request a second opinion; within reason.
-Be assured that personal information is confidential.
-Request to access your health information records.
-Request the transfer of your health records to another medical professional; you may be charged a fee.


This article also outlines what your options are and the complaint process.

I hope this information is helpful. Please let us know if you have further questions and if there is any follow up to your question/situation.

=====
Anna
Settlement.Org Content and Information/Referral Specialist, CIRS
Settlement.Org
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